Star vs the Rewrite Novelisation
by Vyseryx
Summary: My take on 'Star vs the Forces of Evil' plotline. Including, but not limited to: additional character arcs, AU elements and some tweaking here and there. Author note inside is probably a better read than that short description. Rated T for safety, but real violence and smut doesn't fit this universe at all, so it is likely too high. [Current chapter: Star vs The Skeletons - part 2]
1. Star vs the Student Exchange (part 1)

**Short and concise author note. Yes. That's what I will try to do here. Let's see how that goes.**

 **Okay, so what to expect from this fanfic you may ask? Good question and the answer would be: a part novelisation, a part rewrite and a part original content, largely depending on whether or not the Muse of Fanfiction Writing will bestow upon me a blessing of creativity. As much as I like a main plot of this series, the sides ones are... mhm... not as good as I would like. I will try to do something with that, hopefully with some success.**

 **It is my first time writing SvtFoE fanfiction and first time when I toy with an episodic story, so it will certainly be some fun. I hope.**

 **Few setting details will be changed in this one, just for you to be warned. Most importantly – a special significance will be put on the cheek marks, which will only come in four types (clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades) and not in bajilion that fanbase had already came up with. On the flip side - what you have on your cheeks is going to be very important.**

 **Well, I think that's all for now. Without further ado, I present to you the first chapter...**

* * *

 _Chapter one - Star vs the Student Exchange (part 1)_

"No-ho-oooo!" Star Butterfly, the crown princess of Mewni dropped on her knees crying. "I can be good! _Please_! Don't send me to Saint Olga's School for Wayward Princesses!"

She then started to shrieking, as visions of elegant tea drinking lessons and poised walking training filled her mind with crushing force, threatening to drown Star in imaginable darkness full of…

"Sweetheart, we are not sending you there," River Butterfly interrupted his daughter reassuringly.

"Oh!" Star raised immediately switching back to her usual energetic mood.

"Yet," Moon added sending Star a heavy glare, that turned down girl's enthusiasm a little bit.

"We're sending you to train in a safer dimension," River explained. "A place called Errrth."

"Ea'Rth?" Star asked surprised, as she had never heard about such a place before.

"Yes." Moon shoved her daughter into the carriage impatiently and followed her inside.

"Manfred, open the portal!" River shouted loudly.

The blades of Dimensional Scissors cut through the delicate fabric of the universe, creating a small crack in it. With the move of his hands, the servant moulded it into the house-sized gateway.

The carriage moved swiftly, with Star looking through window at the castle, that was slowly becoming more distant. She sighed deeply.

"Goodbye, Mewni." With those words the vehicle crossed the portal, taking princess to the new land.

No soul, either from the royal family, or their servants had spotted a frog-like monster lurking in the bushes. He laughed to himself menacingly, looking at the place where portal had faded away.

* * *

"Sooo…" Principal Skeeves looked rather suspiciously over the two people standing before him in the clothes straight from a different age. "You say you're from another… dimension?"

Star, utterly disinterested in her school enrolment, played with the light switch, turning the lamps in room on and off quickly, clearly fascinated by the device.

She turned to her father with squinted eyes and a mockingly accusatory voice. "And you said there was no magic on Ea'Rth."

"Yeah…" Mr. Skeeves said slowly, looking away from the strange girl and turning back to her parents. "This isn't gonna work."

He had clearly underestimated Butterflies' negotiation prowess. An enormous treasure chest that River had brought, full of gold and jewels did miracles when it came to the principal. They could almost hear dinging in his head when he enthusiastically shouted: "She is gonna _love_ it here!"

Skeeves got the chest in his hands and lights once again started blinking, causing Moon to sigh a little bit.

"She is going to need a guide." Moon stated firmly. "A girl, necessarily. Somebody responsible, who will teach our Star about Earth and keep her out of the harm's way. Keeping her safe is the highest… Are you listening to me, Mr. Skeeves?"

"What?" The man unglued his eyes from the egg-sized emerald, that he had dug out of the chest. "Yes, of course. 'Safe', I heard you. I have a perfect candidate in mind."

"Great,' Moon said, albeit not without a doubt in her voice. She dusted her dress from a non-existent filth and looked at her husband. "See to the 'exchange student' procedure, River. I must return to Mewni now."

"Of course, my dear," the king replied in an enthusiastic way, not really hiding his satisfaction with his wife entrusting him with such a responsible task.

* * *

The atmosphere during Miss Skullnick's lesson was… drowsy. At best. Half of the pupils were sleeping, the other half were either daydreaming or looking mindlessly at cracks on the walls. One boy, however, was stepping out of the line, tirelessly trying to solve the problem on the blackboard, long forgotten even by the teacher herself.

Suddenly a voice from the PA sounded in the classroom:

"Marco Diaz to the principal's office." The speaker demanded. "Marco Diaz to the principal's office."

The scribbling boy straightened in his chair, proud as peacock. With a smug smile on his face, Marco raised and made a few steps to face the rest of the class.

"Oooh, looks like someone's in _trouble_." He started, attracting the attention of exactly nobody.

"So, this bad boy here…" still overly self-complacent, Marco pointed his both thumbs at himself. "…is going to get punished now. And you know what, I am not afraid at all. Because…" he lowered his voice to a whisper. "… I am a _bad boy."_

"Do I need a hall pass.?" The last question was for Ms. Skullnick, who was looking at Marco from behind her glasses.

"Would you just go already?!" The fat woman replied angrily, not for a second interrupting her carefully planned toe nails painting procedure.

* * *

As soon as Marco found himself on the corridor, his self-confidence evaporated. As he started to move in the direction of principal's office, his knees started to tremble and his teeth started to chatter. The dark fear gripped his tummy as he moved slowly with every step closer to his destiny.

Marco knew why he was going on there. He DID stick that chewing gum to the urinal. And now the authorities had tracked him down and a punishing hand of justice was hanging above Marco's head, ready to condemn the wrongdoer he was. Whether the boy was ready for it or not, his fate has already been decided.

A cold sweat wetted Marco's forehead as he stood before the Mr. Skeeves' doors. With his shaky hand he had turned the doorknob and entered the office.

Before the door even closed behind Marco, he had already dropped at his knees screaming:

"Yes, it was ME! I CONFESS. I am ready to take any punishment you… eh?" His apologetic speech was kind of interrupted, when Marco's eyes got a hang of the room before him.

Principal Skeeves sat with his head in a treasure chest. Next to him was a short man with beard as long as he was tall and in kingly attire. As if it wasn't enough, a blonde, stranger girl stood next to the window and was apparently trying to eat a ballpen. With a disturbing degree of success.

"Ah, Marco!" Mr. Skeeves dived out of his treasure. "I want you to meet our new exchange... aah?"

He stopped talking as the boy in the red hood was already standing next to Star and right now he was vigorously patting her back.

"Spit it out immediately!" Marco demanded, shoving a clean tissue under Star's mouth. "Artificial dies. Heavy metals. Preservatives! Do you have any idea what is in this ink?!"

"Blagh?" Star asked eloquently and tilted her head surprised, but obediently spitted out the rests of plastic. "You mean it's not a candy?"

"Whaa?" Marco raised his brows confused, not even noticing River's interested gaze on his person. "Of course it's not! It's a ballpen!"

"Bol'Pehn?" Now Star was confused. "What's that?"

"'What?' Wha…" Marco glared at her, angry and puzzled. "How can you not know what a ballpen is?"

"Yes, about that." Principal coughed in his palm. "Marco, meet our new exchange student – Star Butterfly!"

The blonde girl waved to the boy enthusiastically and Marco started to think he is in some sort of a hidden camera.

Mr Skeeves continued: "I need a responsible, never-take-chances type to keep an eye on her, and who better than you – the Safe Kid?"

"What?" Marco looked at the girl, who was currently smiling so widely he could easily see her ink-tinted teeth. "No, no, no, no! I'm completely wrong for this. I'm a misunderstood bad boy. I… I stuck the gum in the toilet yesterday!"

"You're adorable." Skeeves pinched boy's cheek playfully. "Everybody makes a mistake once in a while. I'm sure you didn't mean to do that!"

"I didn't.. pfft… mean… What?!" Marco shouted devastated, as his chances to gain an opinion of a problem kid had drifted away once again.

"Now, now." The principal patted his head. He took the chest, closed it and went to the door. "I'm off to the ice-cream shop. Daddy's getting all 52 flavours today!"

And with this words he had left the room.

River looked at Marco with squinted eyes.

"Errrth girls are strange…" He came closer to Marco, taking quick glances at his short hair, red hoodie and sport shoes. His face was so close to the boy's one, that Marco started to lean backwards.

"I am not a…Ugh!," Marco started, but was interrupted by an sudden, encouraging hit on his back.

"Ha!" River shouted contentedly. "I like you. Take care about my daughter, will you?"

"But…" Marco wanted to protest, but the older man has already left the room. Through window.

"Bye, Dad." Star waved him through the shards of broken glass, leaning on the windowsill. "Tell mom I love her!"

"Of course, sweetie!" Marco heard his muffled answer and then horses neighing. For a moment the horseshoes were clicking against the street, and then the silence set in.

 _It is definitely_ not _my day._ Marco thought looking at the girl, who in return was staring at him and were jumping in place excitedly.

* * *

"What is this?"

"A door?"

"And this?"

"That's Mr. Stacker, janitor."

"And thiiiiis?" Star put her face to the red box on the wall.

"That's a fire alarm." A resignation could be heard in Marco's voice as he was 'touring' the girl through the school, additionally serving as a walking, talking dictionary.

"Wow." Star was now staring blatantly at the girl with pink hair and punk clothing. "Everything is sooo… AWESOME here!" She jumped around Marco, who only rolled his eyes. "Thanks for showing me around Safe Kid!"

"What? No! Argh!" Marco clenched his fists in anger and growled. "Whatever you heard about me _isn't_ true. I don't know where do people get the idea I'm so safe! Watch your step, loose pile!" He gently guided Star around the obstacle.

"It's ridiculous!" He waved his hands to the ceiling, as if complaining to the gods themselves. "Watch out!" He quickly dragged Star away from the guy that rode on roller-blades through the corridor. "You wear helmet in the gym shower _once_ and you are labelled for life! Broken glass!" He grabbed Star and basically lifted her over the rests of the bottle.

"Frankly, I like taking risks, and I would welcome a little danger in my life." He shoved fist into his palm, flexing his muscles and making a face, that, at least in his opinion, was very macho.

In this instant a butterfly flew next to him and Star looked at it with a way too big smile on her face.

" **Fluffy Monster Upgrade Beam!"** the girl shouted from the top of her lungs aiming the wand. A stream of light shot out of it and stroke the bug, resulting in an explosion of colourful smoke.

Enormous, hideous, though admittedly fluffy, moth replaced the butterfly. He roared scared Marco in the face and then flew away, kidnapping one of the students in process.

A moment of silence followed, until Marco, hidden behind Star, shouted: "What… the heck was THAT?!"

"Haha, oops," Star said sheepishly. "I thought you wanted a little… dangahh."

Marco looked at her as if he saw her the first time. "Who _are_ you?

"I am a maaagical princesss, from another dimension!" Star answered melodiously, waving her wand and creating a rainbow above her. A rainbow that immediately self-ignited.

"Welp," Marco said, seemingly was unmoved by this manoeuvre. "That's the end of our tour. I'm going home now!"

He turned and walked away hastily.

"Bye, new friend!" Star waved to him. "See you tomorrow!"

Marco quickly put on his hood, trying to behave as if he had nothing in common with the girl, whose burning, magical rainbow was just setting fire to the nearby building.

"Bye. Bye, new friend, see you later!" Star was still shouting loudly, completely oblivious to his reaction.

* * *

When Marco finally got to his home, his little temple of (relative) calm and (even more relative) normality he wanted only one thing - to go to his room and forget about what had happened in school.

Marco's hopes however, were once again crushed, as closing to the doors he had heard a loud laughs coming from the inside. Laughs of at least _three_ people. Full of the worst feelings he had entered his house.

Star Butterfly, the princess of all-things-that-Marco-didn't-want-to-see-in-his-house was sitting on the couch with his parents next to her.

They were just laughing from the joke, that's punchline went something like 'but he was a _Mewnicorn_ all along'. They didn't know what Mewnicorn _actually_ was, but who cared at this point if the joke was sooo good.

"Oh, Marco!" Ms. Diaz shouted excitedly, turning to the boy and filling his heart with dread. "Come meet the new exchange student who's gonna be living with us!"

"Wha… W-Wha?" Marco stood in the doors shocked, with one hand still on a doorknob.

"What!?" Star looked on Ms. Diaz surprised and then run to Marco. "I had no idea these were _your_ parents!"

Star dragged Marco to the salon, not interrupting her flow of words: "I just assumed everybody on Earth had the last name 'Diaz'."

Marco wanted to remark that it was an assumption at least stupid in its nature, but his brain temporarily refused to cooperate.

"Won't it be nice to have Star's upbeat, lively energy around the house?" Ms. Diaz said happily, apparently already one hundred percent sold on the idea of housing the strange girl.

Marco looked at Star, then at his mother and said:

"We could have gotten _that_ from a litter of puppies." Marco subtly tried to signal his mother that he didn't exactly agree with her.

The idea backfired, gently speaking.

"Puppies!" Star's eyes lighted up, when she pushed away Marco and grabbed her wand in two hands. "I _LOVE_ puppies!"

She waved her hands and a stream of light hit the carpet, exploding into … a litter of yipping puppies.

A long 'Awwww' came from Marco's parents as they saw little cutie pies lying in front of them. Their raves were too early though, as puppies suddenly started shooting lasers from their eyes, making a quick work of trashing Diazes' salon.

Star looked apologetically on Marco, who right now was making his best to drill a hole in her head with his stare.

"Uh, oh," she mumbled with an apologetic smile, taking one the puppies in an attempt to stop their charge through the house.

"We-he-he-ll," Mr. Diaz tried to stay positive and also lifted on of the little dogs. "They are really cute. Ha, ha, ha, h.. Ayyy, my eye!" he shouted when the puppy shot a laser beam right into his eyeball. Somehow he was able to remain positive and laughed at that too.

"Marco, why don't you show Star her new room?" Ms. Diaz suggested.

"Yay!" Star instantly jumped to the stairs, leaving the boy with her heavy luggage-chest, that he started to drag upstairs, resigned.

* * *

Little did they know, that through the window a frog monster from before observed the Diazes' home, sitting on the branch.

Once again he had laughed menacingly and with the pair of Dimensional Scissors he cut the portal, that he immediately crossed. A portal leading to the headquarters of the Forces of Evil...

* * *

 **Continued in part 2...**


	2. Star vs the Student Exchange (part 2)

**Guest: Well, this is what novelisation means. That I am going to basically turn episodes into text. I have many ideas for original episodes, but I need to introduce characters first and I liked the way first episode did that. Next chapter will probably also be a novelisation of an existing episode, but with much more of my meddling.**

 **I also want it more different than original. Believe it or not, but transcribing episodes literally is a much more tedious task at my end of this project :D I will try to avoid that in the future.**

 **So, without further ado.**

* * *

 _Chapter one – Star vs the Student Exchange (part 2 – last)_

Back on Mewni there was a place few Mewmans had ever wandered to. A dark and dead desert, where castle of the Forces of Evil stood, casting menacing shadows in the flashes of striking lightnings.

Inside of it, in a large throne room, a grim and impure portal opened, letting out a frog-like monster. Up to this time he had been following princess Star Butterfly, in order to compromise her new hiding place and now, having completed his mission, he stood before the bone throne, that was facing away from him.

Buff Frog saluted by hitting his breast twice and croaking loudly.

"Ludo, master!" he spoke, with a smile on his face and satisfaction sounding in his voice. "I've tracked down Star Butterfly. They've hidden her in the Erph dimension… _unguarded._ "

Buff Frog stressed the last word particularly, grinning evilly and showing his razor-sharp teeth. For it was indeed an excellent information and he was rewarded for it with a villainous laughter of his master.

The throne turned, revealing Ludo – a little birdy man, with a skull hat, who was sitting on the pillow tower twice his height and had a delighted expression on his beak.

"Excellent work, Buff Frog!" he shouted. "I knew they couldn't hide that royal brat from me for long."

His eyes filled with the excitement as he imagined himself wielding the heirloom of the Butterfly family, and blasting the said family in the face with his unlimited power.

"Soon, the wand will be mine!" Ludo exclaimed boldly. "And then the Universe. And THEN _…_ Actually the universe should do it."

"Gather the troops!" Ludo ordered jumping down from his cushions. He looked briefly at the ceiling where a mural of monsters fighting with the Mewmans was painted. "I'm coming for you, Queen of Hearts!"

* * *

"Here's your… ugh… new room." Marco somehow managed to carry the enormous chest over the doorstep. He had, however, also managed to drop it right at his foot, what resulted in a loud "OUCH!"

Star looked around at the walls, then through window and then at Marco, utterly oblivious of his suffering.

"Oo-key, I can work with this," she said, and then her face brightened as if she had some certainly genius idea in mind. Star took out her wand and chanted: **"Sparkle Glitter Bomb Expand!"**

The room exploded, creating a large hole in the side of the house. A hole that was immediately filled by mushroom-shaped tower that appeared out of thin air, adding an interesting touch to Diazes' suburban dwelling.

Marco found himself standing in the middle of the large chamber, equipped with everything that a princess could possibly need – a bed with a baldachin, an elegant mirror, that looked very magically and… a collection of swords and maces on the wall?

"Whoa," Marco said amazed, thinking: _Maybe there are some upsides to this magic thing, after all._

"Ah, that's better!" Star jumped on her bed and started bouncing on it happily. Now she finally was starting to feel like home there.

"I wish I had a room like this," Marco said with a dreamy voice.

Star squealed and immediately jumped to him. "You do?" she asked enthusiastically, standing so close to him that the boy had to make a step backwards.

"Huh?" Marco realized that he had said that thought out loud and was now following Star with his eyes, as she run out of the room. He quickly moved after her, full of the worst feelings.

And not with without a basis. By the time he caught up to the girl, she had already got to his room and was now chanting a spell:

 **"Mystic Room Suck Transform!"**

A purple light flashed and a small black hole formed under Marco's favourite carpet, sucking into it everything in the room. A desk, a bed, a computer, a pair of teenagers standing in the entrance…

Star screamed clinging to the doorframe and resisting the sucking with all of her strength. Feeling Marco behind her doing the same, she had managed to grab the doorknob and shut the doors.

The sucking stopped and for a second they remained silent, celebrating their survival. But it didn't last for long.

"Suck? SUCK?!" Marco yelled at Star, waving his hands furiously at her. "Why was the word ' _suck'_ in that spell?!"

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know." Star answered rapidly, jumping from leg to leg and looking at Marco apologetically. "It just came out that way."

Marco looked at the girl, as if he wanted to throw her into the black hole in his room, but he only groaned and hit the door with his face.

Star looked at the boy upset, but then a perfect idea came to her mind.

"How about a little sunshine to brighten your day?" She asked cheerfully and waved her wand. A little smiley sun appeared above Marco's head… only to turn into a rainy cloud a second later.

"Ohh…" Star knew she had screwed up, even _before_ a miniature lighting stoke Marco's head.

The boy turned to her slowly, with the madness peering out of his eyes.

"I can't take this anymore!" He shouted suddenly, literally tearing his hair out. "If you are moving _in_ , than I am moving _out_."

And then he came to the window and just jumped out of it, before Star could react in any way. She only heard a loud _thump_ and quickly leaned over the windowsill.

"Are you okay?" she asked worried, looking at the boy lying in his parent's garden patch.

"Luckily the cactuses broke my fall," Marco answered through his clenched teeth, lying in the puddle of plant juice and thorns.

"Do you need any help?" Star asked full of best intentions, but it only made the boy more angry.

"Not from you, definitely!" Marco replied furiously. "Just leave me alone!"

* * *

Marco was sitting on the swing, one of two that were in the park close to Diazes' house. The boy had already managed to remove all spikes from his rear end and was now slowly swaying his body back and forth, just enough to pour the water out of the seat.

Not that it gave too much. A cloud above his head was still dripping water on his hair, and now was also sobbing silently, not making boy's humour any better.

"What are you even crying about?" Marco snapped, even though he didn't expect any answer. He tried to look at his oppressor, but the water pouring into his eyes made it impossible. "You are a freaking cloud. What problems can a cloud have? You certainly don't have some weird, inter-dimensional exchange student on your…"

Marco stopped, as he had spotted a little girl licking a lollipop and looking at him strangely.

"Who are you talking to, mister?" she asked with a squeaky voice.

"To the cloud, can't you see?" Marco retorted, more angrily than he intended and basically shouting at the four-years-old.

The girl's eyes instantly filled with tears and she started to cry. Her mother appeared out of nowhere and took her child away from Marco, sending him a murderous glare.

"Ahh…" the boy reached his hand in their direction, but stopped in the middle of the move. He sighed and hung limply on the swing, feeling cold water flowing under his collar and down the spine.

Marco started to feel really down. Right now he couldn't go back to his house, he was soak wet and it was only matter of time before somebody would call the police, so that they take care of a strange teenager lurking on the playground.

The boy groaned loudly, cursing his fate, when he heard swing squeaking next to him. He turned his head and saw Star sitting next to him.

"What do you want?" the boy asked resigned. He wanted to shout at her, but he couldn't muster enough energy even for that.

Without any answer Star waved her wand and the sobbing cloud disappeared. Looking down at her feet, she had pushed her legs against the ground and started to swing slowly.

She turned to Marco slowly and said quietly:

"I didn't really get a choice about coming here to Earth." She put her wand on her laps.

Marco started at her, trying to remain angry, but he couldn't. Not a single ounce was left of Star's usual energy, and right now she looked very fragile and delicate, down and abnormally quiet.

But that was not the only abnormal thing in this picture.

"Star," Marco said slowly, but the girl didn't listen to him.

"And you.. you didn't have a choice about having to deal with me." She looked at the boy, but his eyes looked past her.

"Star…" Marco said once again, this time with much more tension.

"I know, I know," she cried. "I'll… I'll find another family to live with and…"

"STAR!" Marco shouted, pointing his finger at something behind her.

"Huh?" She turned, only to see a small division of monsters and on the front of them…

"Ludo!" Star jumped from the swing pointing wand at the monster.

"Star Butterfly!" the bird man shouted joyfully. "At last I've found!"

"How did you know I was here?" Star asked, not even a slightest amount of fear sounding in her voice.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ludo asked mockingly.

"Yes," Star replied pressingly and nodded on the top of that. "That's why I asked."

"Ha!" Ludo shouted, pointing his bony finger at her. "I will not tell you! GET HER!"

The last words were directed to the monsters behind him. They all roared in unison and charged at Star, waving their axes, swords and maces.

"Run!" Marco shouted, terrified, trying to grab Star's hand and pull her away from the monsters. Rather unnecessarily.

 **"Cheerful Toffee Garden Wall!"** The princess shouted pointing her wand in the general direction of the horde.

Ground before her erupted, letting out a tangled caramel vines, that instantly formed a solid (well, more or less) barrier between the teenagers and monsters, stopping them in their tracks. Thick stems swelled up on the ends and bloomed into a smiling flowers. They looked really cheerful, just standing there and even more cheerful when they started to eat monsters.

"Who are they?!" Marco asked scared, looking rather disturbed at the chewy wall, that Ludo's horde was just chopping through.

"Emm…" Star patted her cheek sheepishly. "Just some… mortalenemiesfromanotherdimension?"

"What!?" Somehow that answer didn't help Marco with calming down. "What are they doing here?"

"They came for me," Star explained pointing finger at her chest. Seeing Marco's nervousness she waved her hand reassuringly. "Dooon't worry, Marcoo. I'll take care of it! You just hide yourself somewhere… monsterless."

At this moment, a segment of toffee barrier had fallen, and through the hole they heard Ludo's voice:

"She's still there. Get the WAND!"

A horde of monsters emerged from the break in the wall, more furious than before and resumed their attack.

This time however, Star run back at them, much to Marco's dismay, who thought that eight feet tall beasts are deadly dangerous for the petite girl.

Never before had the Safe Kid been so wrong in his life.

Star jumped off her left leg and kicked the closets monster right in the face, knocking him out in an instant. Immediately after she pointed wand on the giraffe-shaped one and shouted:

 **"Rainbow Fist Punch!"**

Multi-coloured clenched palm stroke monster right between his eyes, throwing him away from the park, right at the street. A car passing by braked with a loud squeak, somehow avoiding hitting giraffe, but accidently running over its tail.

No one noticed his comically high shriek, as everybody was currently concerned with something else.

Monsters were trying to catch Star, mobbing at her all at once.

Star was dancing between them within a barrage kicks, punches and chocolate-flavoured magic like a perfectly oiled monster K.O.-ing machine.

"What are you doing? It's only a little girl!" Ludo shouted angrily, looking as the lines of his horde were thinning out at the alarming rate.

"Wo-hoo! You go there Star!" Marco cheered for his new friend, keeping just enough distance to avoid being hit by the razor-sharp tea cookies. Out of his excitement he had completely forgotten about running away.

And right now one monster was about to use this. Two headed, red and apparently slightly smarter than his comrades, he sneaked behind the boy. With a quick move he grabbed Marco and trapped him in his strong arms.

"Aaa!" the boy shouted scared, wriggling desperately trying to free himself from the unwanted hug. "Let me go!"

But monster wasn't listening to him. Instead he was looking at Star standing before him. All other monsters aside from him had already been defeated and the silence had set in.

"Ha, HA!" Ludo took his place next to his last warrior standing. "We've got your servant, Star Butterfly! What are you going to do NOW?"

"I… uh… I," Star said, completely clueless. She couldn't attack the monster, for it would also affect Marco. But she also couldn't give up her wand.

Marco was now just hanging motionlessly in the monster's arms. Maybe he was knocked out, maybe even seriously hurt, she didn't know. There was nobody to help them and the situation seemed completely, utterly hopeless. Until…

"Hi-yaa!" With a loud scream, Marco bent his entire body, raised his legs to improbable angle and kicked both of monster's heads. The beast roared surprised and his grab weakened enough for the boy to slip out of it.

Red hands followed Marco instinctively, and was he there alone, he would get caught again. But he wasn't.

 **"NARWHAL BLAST!"** Star shouted as loud as she could and giant horned fish shot out of her wand crushing into monster and sending him into the nearest tree.

Ludo followed him with his eyes, growling, and when he turned back to Star, she was already standing before him, aiming wand at his head.

"You want some of _this,_ Lu-do?" Star asked with a big grin, all of her self-confidence back in an instant.

"No." The bird-man sighed resigned, pulling out his Dimensional Scissors.

He minced through the battlefield, shouting reprimands for his horde.

"You see, you morons?" Ludo walked next to lying monster with particularly stupid facial expression. "This is what happens when you don't work out! You muscles are like pudding!"

He jumped and opened a mud-coloured portal in the air.

"Come on!" Ludo shouted at his servants loudly. "Back in the portal."

The monsters got back on their legs and plodded to the gate.

"You even retreat like losers!" There was no end to Ludo's complaints. When he, finally, entered the portal himself, he turned to Star and threatened her with a fist. "I'll get you, Star Butterf-phl…"

Ludo was interrupted by portal almost closing on his head. Fortunately, he managed to hide in time, leaving only his crown on Earth.

Hardly had the portal closed, when Marco jumped to Star putting hands on her shoulders.

"That was _scary_!" He yelled, shaking the girl vigorously. "That was _amazing_! _YOU_ were amazing!"

"Yeah, I guess I was," Star said with a bright smile and way too much pride in her voice. "But this kick! It was awe-some too!"

"Right?" Marco's eyes literally started to glow. He took a strange positon, clumsily imitating some pose he had seen in the Asian movies. "It's called Ka-ra- _teh_!"

"It was sooo cool," Star joined his enthusiasm, but then she saddened down suddenly and started to go in the direction of Diazes' house. "Well, I should probably go… pack my bags."

"Huh?" Marco overtook her and blocked her way, facing Star directly. "No, no, no, no. You are _definitely_ staying."

"What?" Star was confused right now. "But… your room, monsters, crying cloud… cactuses?"

"You kidding me?" Marco asked enthusiastically, gesticulating vigorously. "You just saved my life! And wait, _monsters_? Are there going to be _more_ of them?"

"Umm, probably yes." Star slowly started to brighten up.

"Yes!" Marco almost jumped in the air excited.

"But they are dan…," Star shouted, but then she had remembered something. "Ooooh, 'a little danger' in your life?"

Marco only nodded enthusiastically, his eyes glaring with energy.

"O-kay, then!" Star was back to her normal self now. She turned on her heels and with a tone worthy of a veteran general she shouted. "Let's head back to our castle then, my new courtier!"

"Aye, aye, princess!" Marco replied happily and they headed back to his house.

For only a fraction of the second, for a blink of an eye, little hearts appeared on Marco's cheeks. They flashed with a red light and disappeared as if nothing had ever happened.

But the grinds of destiny were put in motion and there was nothing in the Universe that could stop them now.

* * *

 **...because it's never too early to start introducing some AU stuff.**

 **Okay, so let's address an elephant in the room. Yes, Marco is currently incapable of fighting. Why, you may ask. Well, as a boy myself, I am rather delighted that in the female-protagonist-centred show, a male** **deuteragonist** **is a strong independent man who needs no woman to protect him.**

 **However, as an author, I have two problems with that.**

 **Firstly, it doesn't really make sense from the logical standpoint. Knowing some karate moves and being able to fight are really a different kettles of fish. I'm pretty sure that all of us know the rules of chess, but it doesn't mean you or I would be able to play them competitively, right?**

 **Secondly, it doesn't make sense narratively. If Marco is already capable of fighting, then a pretty interesting character arc is scrapped automatically. As Star learns how to restrain herself, level-headed Marco learns how to fight. Doesn't that sound fun?**

 **There is also another problem with that, that community has already started to notice. SvtFoE Marco can't keep up with more challenging threats, raising in the story right now. He could barely do anything against Toffee, and if Eclipsa is half as powerful as awesome, then he is going to struggle in the season 3 too.**

 **So, my idea goes somewhat like this: Marco starts off weaker and grows in strength over the course of the story. And by the time Battle of Mewni hits, he is much stronger than his canon self. How does that sound to you?**


	3. Star vs The Skeletons (part 1)

**I thought I would only slightly rewrite the episode two of SvtFoE. I guess things went out of hand a little bit...**

* * *

 _Chapter two - Star vs The Skeletons (part 1)_

"Skeletina! No!" shouted a prop skeleton, wearing a black tuxedo and with all strength of his muscleless hand holding onto his lover's arm.

"You must let go, Skeletor!" Skeletina shouted, having an evening dress on her plastic bones and tears swelling in her empty eyeholes. "Or we will both fall!"

Skeletina hanged from the roof of the Echo Creek Academy, only her lover's arm preventing her from falling down. But, alas, Skeletor's heroic actions brought the danger upon him too. For under the weight of his other half, he was also slipping off the rooftop's edge. He tried to climb back up, but with one hand occupied it proved to be impossible.

"It's my end, Skeletor," Skeletina said sadly, yet calmly, accepting her fate. "You must let go!"

"I WILL NEVER LET GO OF YOU!" shouted Skeletor, strengthening his grip.

"THE WAND IS MINE!" shouted Ludo, dancing in place and keeping the artefact above his head.

Star stood before him on the school's playfield with a look of total devastation on her face.

 _And here I thought this was going to be a boring day!_ Janna reflected in her head, together with thirty other students tied up and sat on by Ludo's underlings.

* * *

 **[Few hours earlier]**

"AAA!" Marco shouted, completely and absolutely terrified, tightening his hold on Star's waist. He was sitting behind her and was currently doing his best not to fall from the unicorn, that they were raiding. Bareback.

"You're liking it?" Star asked, overjoyed. There was no doubt, that it wasn't her first time on the quadruped or that she drew a pure pleasure out of the crazy gallop through the streets of Echo Creek. She flicked a candy-decorated reins and the unicorn neighed loudly, jumping over the upcoming car and avoiding crash by mere inches.

"NO-ooh-oh!" Marco nearly choked on his tongue, when the unicorn landed on the ground heavily. Bumping against its back to the rhythm of horseshoes clicking on the asphalt, the boy now utterly regretted agreeing about coming to school 'in a Mewni way'.

By the time they got to the Echo Creek Academy, Marco was already sick and tired of this new day ahead of him, even though it had barely even started.

"Whoa!" Star shouted loudly and pulled the reins robustly. The unicorn neighed deafeningly and came to a dead stop, nearly throwing its passengers off.

Star quickly made her way down to the ground and helped trembling Marco to do the same. She then slapped the backside of the unicorn and it started to run away. With a last, loud shriek, the quadruped jumped and turned into a swarm of pitch-black, fist-sized hornets that flew into the sky.

"Bye, bye!" Star waved happily in their direction and turned to Marco, who was still standing next to her. "What do say? Unicorns are awe-some, huh?"

"I don't feel like riding anything with four legs ever again," Marco responded truthfully, quickly putting hand on his mouth. He was slightly green on the face and breathed deeply, earnestly trying not to puke in front of all the people, that were already gathering around the school.

As Marco eyed over them, something strange occurred to him. He looked at Star, who was in turn looking at him and jumping in place. When the boy was finally sure, that he wouldn't lose his breakfast were he to open his mouth, he asked: "Was your unicorn like invisible, or something?"

"Huh?" Star titled her head and gave him a confused stare.

"Cause, you know," Marco waved his hand at the crowd thickening around them. "They don't see magical creatures every other day."

As right as Marco was, nobody around them seemed to be even slightly surprised that the pair of their peers arrived on the unicorn.

"Ahh, this," Star smiled, brushing her hair sheepishly. "Mom mentioned some magic hiding spell, or something, when we were travelling here."

"Wha?" Marco looked around confused, as if he was expecting to see a magical circle or runes painted somewhere on school walls. "So, like, illusion magic?"

"Eee, I guess?" Star rubbed her chin. "I'm not good at that."

"O-kay," Marco said, finally feeling his nausea going away. He checked his watch and raised his brows, surprised with how much quicker the unicorn was than the bus. "That's one less problem for us to deal with. Let's go."

Moving with the crowd they entered the school. A group of 'the cool kids' walked past them and the pair suddenly found themselves under the barrage of compliments.

"Nice headband, new one."

"Nifty boots, exchange student."

"Cool tattoos, gal!"

Star stopped and waved to them all enthusiastically, both surprised and content with this welcoming.

"Hi, new friends. Hi! Hi!" She did her best to greet them all, even if that was entirely impossible. She turned to Marco thrilled. "Everyone's so cool here, Marco. It makes me wish my parents had tossed me out of the castle years ago."

"Oh, you haven't even met the coolest ones yet…" Marco said, with his voice suddenly sounding very dreamy.

Star looked surprised at the boy and then followed his eyes, to see who was he talking about.

A bright, nearly white, hair with a blue streak. Green eyes, big and shapely. A figure of an athlete. A godsend, at least in Marco Diaz's eyes, was skating through the corridor, gracefully breaking the school rules explicitly forbidding just that.

"Jackie Lynn Thomas…" Marco said, doing his best not to drool at her sight.

Approaching the boy, Jackie flicked her hair and smiled in his direction, waving welcomingly.

"Hi, Marco," she greeted the boy warmly, passing next to him.

"Hi, Jackie," he replied, and Star could swear she saw little hearts beating in his eyes when he was doing so. The boy looked almost hypnotised and it caused a large smile to appear on Star's face.

She looked at Marco with squinted eyes and asked with an innocent voice:

"And who _that_ was?"

"Marco's unsecret crush, that's who." Star heard a playfully mocking voice behind her. She turned and saw a girl in beanie, standing next to the lockers.

Marco blushed deeply, much to Star's amusement, and almost shouted at the newly arrived: "She is _not_ my crush!"

"Yes, and the sky is _purple_ ," Janna replied with a smile and turned to Star. "Haven't seen you around here before. Are you the exchange student everybody is talking about?"

"Yup!" Star confirmed enthusiastically, and, before Marco could stop her she added: "I am Star Butterfly, magical princess from the Mewni dimension."

"Wow, cool." Janna seemed to genuinely believe this answer, completely oblivious of facepalming Marco next to her. She reached her hand to Star and introduced herself: "Janna Ordonia, self-proclaimed occult expert, level two witch and…"

"My archnemesis," Marco interrupted her.

"A childhood friend," Janna corrected him with a grin. She squeezed Star's arm. "Pleased to meet you."

"Same." Star shook their hands. "Marco's friends are my friends too!"

"She is not my friend," Marco muttered under his nose. "She's a traitor."

"Are you still angry about those nachos?" Janna asked innocently.

"Of course I am!" Marco said, seething with ire. "It took me two hours to make them, and you ate them all alone!"

"Those were some good nachos…" Janna said, remembering the crunchy chips, snapping in her mouth mixed with a cheese sauce.

"There were eight pounds of them, Janna!"

"And I don't regret eating a single one." Janna winked at Star, who was very amused with this exchange.

As it turned out, things had instantly clicked between Star and Janna. The two girls had spent the entire time before lessons talking to each other. Star passionately dived into the details of unicorn's breeding, while Janna was attempting to explain the intricacies of some occult ritual. Neither of them understood what the other was talking about, and neither of them cared about that.

* * *

Biology classes didn't have the opinion of the most interesting ones in the Echo Creek Academy. Mr. Finley, the school's biologist, was a year away from the retirement, and had lost his passion for learning more or less at the time when Marco's mother had gone on her first date.

Thus, Mr. Finley's lessons mostly consisted of him reading a text book with his monotonous voice and pupils patiently (or not) waiting for them to end. Today, however, a hope for something more interesting appeared, in the form of two prop skeletons, that Mr. Finley had stored in his closet. One male and one female - were the circumstances any different, they would probably be able to make the lesson bearable by their very presence.

But Mr. Finley's forgone talent for learning was just too much. When he started his lengthy lecture about human skeletal system, the boredom reigned supreme in the class of the Echo Creek Academy.

"For millennia had the modern medicine been wondering: just how many bones does a human body have," never-changing voice seeped into the ears of those, who weren't asleep yet. "To make sure you won't have problems of our ancestors, we will count them all now."

Mr. Finley turned to the male skeleton and bent to touch its largest toe. "One," he started.

Marco sat on his chair, with his head propped up by his hand. Next to him Star lied on her notebook, drooling slightly, but, miraculously, awake.

"Ughh… This is so boring…" she whispered to Marco.

"Yhy," Marco tried to nod, but his muscles failed him. His eyes were closing themselves against his will. Black mist filled his mind. Morpheus' arms invited him into the sweet land of dreams and warmth filled his limbs, when…

 _Bang!_

Marco's head slipped off his hand and hit the desk like a hammer. The boy woke up rather violently and quickly discovered that everybody was looking at him. Even Mr. Finley turned away from his skeletons.

"Did you say something, Mr. Diaz?" he asked with a voice, in which one could find a trace amounts of interest.

"No, uh, I mean," Marco spotted an opportunity to get out of the class. "Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Yes, of course," the teacher replied and went back to the counting. "Two hundred and fifty… fifty… I got lost. Let's start again."

As Marco was raising from his desk, Star reached her hand to him, as far as she could and whispered loudly: "Don't leave me here…"

He only waved his hand, muttering something like 'I'll be right back' and left the room.

"Ygh…" Star once again fall on her desk, this time having almost half of her body on it. She looked ahead at the pair of skeletons. They somehow looked different from the ones she had seen on Mewni. When captain of the Royal Guard showed her the catacombs under the Butterflies' Castle, the bones down there looked much more dirty and disorderly than those before her. The two skeletons here were just too clean and put on the hangers they were just… boring.

Star tilted her head a little and looked at the pair of skeletons from different angle. For now it occurred to her, that they kind of looked like a pair. They were so close to each other, that their bony hands had almost touched. In Stars mind a vision appeared – those two having picnics in forest, bouncing happily together at the grasslands of Mewni and living happily ever after.

"He, he-he," Star's eyes brightened, as she chuckled silently at the idea. Unfortunately, the real word was nothing like the romantic dream in her head and Star returned to the reality of her boring classes.

 _This lesson would be sooo much more fun, if a skeleton was giving it._

Star gasped, realizing just how awesome that idea was. She reached her wand in front of her and, carefully followed by eyes of both Jackie and Janna, she shouted:

" **Super Stylish Skeletal Animation!"**

* * *

Marco stood above the sink and splashed some water on his face. The cold liquid helped him get rid of the rests of sleepiness, even if only for a short moment. Even him, the Safe Kid, could not suffer through the Mr. Finley's lessons. Biology was turning every Tuesday afternoon into an unbearable drag.

 _Well, on the flip side…_ Marco thought, washing his hands (twice) and drying them with paper towels. _There were much less problems with Star today than I had expected._

He left the bathroom and unhurriedly went in the direction of his classroom.

 _She was so excited to talk to Janna, that she had forgotten to explode anything._ Marco blushed slightly, remembering his morning behaviour towards his oldest friend. _I guess I owe her an apology. Or at least a complaint-less bowl of nacho…_

Marco's train of thought was suddenly derailed, as he heard the music coming from the direction he was going to. Under normal circumstance, there was no way music was playing anywhere in the school right now. Full of the worst feelings, Marco started to walk faster, determined to find out whether Star Butterfly had something to do with this irregularity.

However, when he was already approaching the door of his classroom, they suddenly opened violently.

For a second there, Marco's brain refused to accept what his eyes were seeing. Two skeletons emerged from the door frame – one wearing a black tuxedo and a matching cylinder, while the other had a deep purple evening dress and red high-heels on.

To add to their rather out of ordinary looks, the odd pair was also dancing gracefully, quickly moving closer to Marco. _Click, click, click_ \- the heels of the skeletal woman were hitting the floor rhythmically, and with each her step a strange, pink mist was raising up from below her feet.

Marco could only look in disbelief at this strange pair, as they moved towards him quickly, seemingly only focused on each other and their show. But, what kind of unstylish monsters would they be, if they didn't welcomed the new guest to their party?

"Greetings, young man." Male skeleton doffed of his hat to Marco.

" _Bonjour, nouvel invit_ _é_." Sweet voice of the female skeleton filled Marco's ears.

He blushed for no particular reason, staring dumbly at the pair, as they passed him and made their way down the corridor.

 _Click, click, click_ – the pink mist reached Marco's head and he took a deep breath of it. Suddenly, the music he heard earlier became louder and his entire body was filled with excitement. He started to move his legs to the rhythm of the song he heard for the first in his live, unfamiliar and yet so seemly.

And then Marco Diaz forgot about the boring biology lesson, about the otherworldly princess, who was still in the school somewhere and about the reason he was in this building in the first place. All that mattered now was that the music was playing and that he wanted to dance. Dance, dance and dance, as long as he could, as long as his body was able to, dance, until the very end of the world.

 _Click, click, click_ – the heels sounded, as the two skeletons traveled down the corridors of the Echo Creeks Academy.

* * *

 **continued in part 2...**

 **By Daron Nefcy's own admission, Alfonso and Ferguson were created only because Disney executives wanted male friends for Marco. That explains why their characters are rather... lackluster. And since I neither liked them, nor had an idea what to do with them, they have been removed from the story whatsoever.**

 **(Wikipedia is my source for the above statement)**

 **Also, my French is based on one semester of learning it and Google Translate. Somebody PM me, please, if I wrote some stupid shit there.**


	4. Star vs The Skeletons (part 2)

_Star vs The Skeletons (part 2)_

Two girls danced crazily together in the corner of the class in the Echo Creek High. Star jumped from desk, to desk, making some otherworldly acrobatics in the air, while Janna was waving her hips energetically, nearly ramming her rear end into the other people around her, and completely not caring about it.

In the middle of one of her somersaults, Star spotted an interesting thing in the distance. She jumped down on the ground and elbowed Janna, not that gently. When the other girl looked at her questioningly, Star pointed towards something with her chin. Janna turned and saw Jackie and Marco dancing together on the middle of the class.

"Ooou!" Janna leaned to Star, so that she could hear despite the loud music. "She is _totally_ hitting on him."

"Right?" Star eyes twinkled excitedly.

* * *

 _This must be a dream._ Marco shook his hands and legs to the rhythm of the music in something that one could call a dance. And next to him, Jackie Lynn Thomas was doing exactly the same. The boy's brain had problems comprehending this amount of happiness, when the godsend girl of his dreams was looking into his eyes and smiling widely.

 _Maybe they will change the music to something slower soon._ Marco started intensely dreaming about the calm waltz, or just one of those sad love songs, that forced pairs to keep hands and dance together. _Oh, yes. That would be awesome._

He started moving his eyes around, trying to find a D.J. – right now he would do everything from bribery to threats, to have his desired change in tune. But the music console was nowhere to be found and, now that Marco started to think about it, neither were speakers.

When he tried to think more intensely about this, he discovered that insides of his brain resembled a caramel – his thoughts were slow and unfocused, and thinking logically was turning out much harder than it should be.

When that observation hit him, his eyes started to discover other strange details of his surroundings. He was in his class, and not in some club, as he had thought just a half a minute ago. To add to that, strange, pink mist flew between his classmates, filling the air with a strange sweet smell.

But what disturbed Marco the most were the faces of people around him. They were happy, but at the same time something was very wrong with them. One obese boy, whose name Marco couldn't recall now, danced energetically next to him, but it was clear that he was already exhausted. He was sweating very strongly and looked as if he wanted to get off the floor, but something kept him there by force.

 _By force?_ Marco thought to himself, his mind still not working very well. _Wait. I don't like dancing. I_ can't _dance. What am I doing here?_

He tried to find the answer to this question in his mind, and suddenly an image appeared in his head.

 _Two skeletons dancing through the corridor gracefully_ …

Marco's mind cleared so violently, that he lost his balance and almost fell on the floor.

"Everything all right?" Jackie shouted next to him, with some concern on her face.

"What?" Marco looked at her, as if he had seen her for the first time today. "Uh, yes. I just… need to do something."

The boy quickly scanned the room with his eyes. Despite the chaos in it, finding Star took him only a couple of seconds. He quickly squeezed through the crowd in her direction.

"Hi, Marco," Janna greeted him loudly, grinning. "Did you get bored of your not-a-crush?"

"Not now, Janna," the boy replied shortly, and grabbed Star's hand. "I will borrow you for a moment, ok?"

Star was surprised, but followed him without a protest.

"Eyy, don't be a party-pooper!" Janna shouted after them, as Marco dragged Star out of the class to the corridor.

The air in it was much cleaner, and the boy took few deep breaths to clean his lungs from the strange mist, before finally asking:

"Star, what is happening here?"

"A paaaartyyy!" She answered enthusiastically, waving her hands and head from side to side in a funky way.

"And how exactly did the class turn into one?" Marco asked, starting to realize, that the girl didn't see anything strange in a surprise dancing during lessons.

"Amm, remember those skeletons from before?" Star asked innocently, poking her cheek with wand. "When I woke them up, they got this par-ty rolling in a seconds!"

"Staaar!" Marco shouted, gesticulating angrily. "They are making people dance…!"

"And what's wrong with that?" The girl interrupted, completely confused by Marco's outrage.

"By hypnotising them." He finished, pointing his hand towards the classroom.

Through the open doors, Star could clearly see a zombie-like dancers, dancing with wide smiles and empty eyes.

"Oh, ooooh." Star patted her chin with fingers. "So that's why the teacher didn't protest."

Marco facepalmed heavily.

"O-kay," Star looked at him, with some determination appearing in her eyes. "So... where are they now?"

"They went in the direction of the canteen," Marco answered, pointing his finger down the corridor.

"If you are right, that they hypnotise people…" Star started.

"Then we must catch them, before the entire school goes crazy." Finished Marco.

What they didn't notice about this entire situation, was a big frog-like monster sitting on the roof of the building across the street. He observed Star Butterfly's strange behaviour for quite a time and had noticed that she seemed distressed.

With a large grin, he opened the portal and jumped into it.

* * *

Marco and Star were running through the school, checking every classroom that was on their way and in each finding the same. Nothing. Empty seats, notebooks left in the middle of writing, but not a single student.

Led by Marco, the pair quickly made their way to the doors of the canteen. The pink mist was slowly seeping from behind them, letting the two to believe, that they had arrived to the end of their search.

Marco decided to take a more strategic approach to the matter.

"One the count of three," he whispered to Star, not really checking whether she was listening to him. "One…"

"Hi-ya!" Star kicked the canteen doors open and entered the room. Marco, a little bit dumbfounded, followed her inside.

As soon as they both entered, the doors shut and they found themselves in the absolute darkness. For a second there Marco thought that the room was absolutely silent, but after a moment his ears adjusted, he realized he was wrong. The room was filled with delicate murmuring of people's breaths and small moves. It was a sound of the theatre, just before the show, when the lights had already went off.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Star and Marco basically jumped in the air scared, when a loud voice spoke. "Please welcome, your guests, your hosts, the one and the only – THE SKELETONS!"

The pair of teenagers heard a loud pop and canteen suddenly the two rays of light appeared, aiming at the large scene, placed in the middle of the room. A loud round of applause filled the air, making Star overly excited.

 _I wonder what is going to happen!_ She thought stretching her legs, trying to get a better view on the scene ahead of them.

 _Where the heck did that scene come from?_ Thought Marco.

But neither of them was given much time to contemplate the situation, as right then, the long pillars of smoke shot out of the scene and they heard a mechanism working.

Two skeletons emerged from below the scene, standing on the moving platform that was slowly raising up. As more and more of their skeletal bodies was becoming visible, the pink mist thickened in the room and with the flick of the bony fingers, the magical music started playing again.

Students around Star and Marco started to clap frantically as the platform moved and two skeletons intertwined their hands, posing for a second for their audience.

And then they started dancing and it was nothing like anything Marco had ever witnessed. The pair of skeletons moved as if they didn't even touch the ground, dashing from side of the scene to other in the matter of seconds. When the female skeleton leaned back, almost touching her skull to the ground, and raising her leg to up to the ceiling, all that while being hold in the air by her partner, who was just performing a pirouette, Marco felt his jaw dropping down to the ground.

"Wo-hoo!" Star shouted next to him, waving her hands above her head. "Skeletina has got some moves!"

"Who?" Marco asked, but his brain digested this name fully. "You mean the woman-skeleton?"

"And the other one is Skeletor!" Star nodded energetically. "Named them myself!"

"I figured," Marco said and grabbed her hand. "Let's go."

Easier said than done. Clicking heels of Skeletina weaved more of the pink mist and now all room was dancing, making people rather oblivious to the two teenagers, trying to weave their way through the crowd .

When Marco lost Star's hand for a moment, she immediately got separated from him. It took the boy almost five minutes to find her again, clinging to the bowl with punch, and dragging her away from it.

When they finally got the platform, they quickly climbed at, and soon enough Marco and Star were standing before the two skeletons on the scene.

"Okay!" Marco spoke, with voice as hard as he could muster when looking into the empty eyeholes of the two figures before him. "It's time for you to stop!"

Somehow, this last line sounded much louder, as if the boy had said it to the microphone and suddenly entire room was booing at the newly arrived. Star, looking kind of startled by this reaction, hid behind Marco's back.

"Get out of the scene!" someone in the crowd shouted.

But Marco didn't even flinch at this, rather negative, feedback. His entire mind was focused on the two skeletons before him and at resisting their magical mist, that was particularly thick on the scene.

" _Non, non, non_ , they can stay." Skeletina said amused with her deep, womanly voice.

"Only if they earn it in a proper way." Skeletor added happily.

"Wha?" Star asked, suddenly curious.

"If you want to rule the scene…" Skeletina started.

"…you must defeat king and the queen," Skeletor finished.

"So, if we defeat you, you will stop…" Marco waved his hand around, showing the dancing zombiefied audience. "This?"

" _Oui!"_ Both Skeletons answered in unison.

"Ooou! Fighting!" Star enthusiasm was instantly back, when the situation started to develop in the familiar way.

"But wouldn't you two, by any chance…" Skeletina started with a questioning tone.

"…prefer to solve the conflict with a dance?" Skeletor finished.

"So, like a dancing duel?" Marco asked and waved his hand. "No, no, no, that's ridiculo…"

"We're in!" Star interrupted him. Her shining eyes told Marco that she was completely sold on the idea.

"Oh, boy…" Marco sighed. He looked at the pair of skeletons, whose clothes were being moved by a non-existing wind. "But… who will decide the winner?"

"The audience, of course!" Skeletor shouted. His voice echoed through the room and people around them started to clap enthusiastically.

 _I have a strange feeling they're gonna be biased._ Marco thought critically. With a corner of his eye, he sees Star aiming the wand at him and he was blasted with the ray of bright light.

Next thing he knew, Marco was wearing an elegant suit and Star was next to him in a bright yellow skirt. The Skeletons grabbed their hands and took their starting position, and Star jumped to Marco to do the same.

"I can't dance, Star!" Marco hissed in her ear, when they were standing close to each other with their fingers intertwined.

"Oh," Star only grinned evilly. "That's not gonna be a problem."

Before Marco could ask what did she mean, Star moved her leg up quickly, sending a stream of pink mist in Marco's face.

"What the hell are you… doing?" He started angrily, but then his eyes brightened as he understood her plan. The boy took a deep breath, and inhaled a large dose of a _dance-inducing_ mist. His insecurity disappeared, replaced with energy filling his limbs. "O-kay. I'm ready."

They froze in the position mirroring the skeletons next to them and waited. For a few moments the silence filled the room.

" _Commençons_!" With one word, Skeletina give a sign and the music started playing, causing dancers to break standstill and throw themselves in the artistic battle.

* * *

Back on Mewni, a dark portal opened in the Ludo's castle, letting out the frog-like monster.

He saluted to his master, by kissing his fingers and waving his hands in the air.

"Ludo, master!" He spoke loudly, with satisfaction sounding in his voice. "I observed Star Butterfly, as you commanded."

"Aaaand?" Ludo asked impatiently, licking a corn-flavoured ice cream in his hand.

"She did something with her wand, and she is now partying instead of learning!" Buff Frog reported with a large grin on his face. "And she seemed pretty… _distracted_."

"Distracted?" Ludo asked with very dumb expression on his beak and tongue froze in the middle of the way to the ice-cream. His eyes brightened and he grinned villainously. "Oh, that is PERFECT!"

Ludo jumped on his chair, accidently dropping his ice-cream at the head of one of his guardians.

"Yeees, no one's at their best when they are… DISTRACTED!" The bird man shouted loudly and squinted his eyes. "Gather the troops! It's time for round two!"


End file.
